You know how you teach a lesson or observe something about your students and then think about it? Well, stop! WRITE about it instead. So what...you aren't in front of a computer when you're thinking? You in your car? In a meeting? Taking a shower? Soaking up some sun on the beach? No worries! Scribble your thoughts on a table napkin, a paper plate, or a random burger wrapper! Nobody said your thoughts had to be in a formal paper double-spaced and in a presentation folder! School has been out since the end of May. So far I have written an idea/reflection on a Wendy's bag (road trip to an SOL meeting), a corner of a Dunkin Donuts box that was handy, and a table napkin from Cracker Barrel (another meeting). I took pictures of my "trashy' notes and have since expanded on one idea. The ideas I don't develop will be printed as photographs and put in my reflections folder anyway. There is no suggested number of artifacts for this file. I guess they don't want to limit our thought capacity. Maybe someone is worried that we will write to the task like we teach to the test! Just kidding, but what is a teacher to do? I think there are times when a snapshot of trash is more appropriate than the actual trash. The evaluation stinks without the trash, and that snapshot is sometimes more important than the fully developed wordy version. Speaking of wordy versions, I have opted to upload my first reflection for people to consider. It is a reflective piece that has me connecting with my first experiences as a pre-professional teacher and who I am as a teacher today. You don't have to read it all. It's a personal journey piece. Everybody needs one of those in their evaluation...to show heart.
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About LizLiz Phillips teaches eighth-graders in a close-knit Southwest Virginia community, a stone's throw from the birthplace of country music and NASCAR's Bristol Raceway. Archives
October 2016
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